A Surprise Resurrection and a Solo Effort at 69

Swans, Dieter Meier and More in This Week's Pop Scene

Owen Pallett

Bowery Ballroom

Bowery Ballroom

6 Delancey St.

(212) 533-2111

Wednesday

Owen Pallett made his name as the string arranger for indie-rock bands including Arcade Fire before breaking out on his own as a sort of ornate troubadour for the post-digital age. Strings and all manner of sophisticated musical workings assist subtle electronic adornments on "In Conflict," a stately new solo album on which Mr. Pallett sounds singular and at ease with other sounds in competition all around him. He also made news recently with a series of articles for Slate magazine explaining the genius of certain pop hits (by Katy Perry, Daft Punk and Lady Gaga) using music theory, and his enthusiasm for the craft of making songs swoon is infectious.

The Afghan Whigs

Brooklyn Bowl

61 Wythe Ave., Brooklyn

(718) 963-3369

Thursday

The Afghan Whigs are masters of high-rock drama. Every song, as it slinks suspiciously from the speakers, smacks of earthly anguish, spiritual restlessness and cosmic torment while holding out hope, in the end, for some sort of deliverance. It wasn't a common approach when the band first broke out in the 1990s swell of grunge—they shared an indie label, Sub Pop, with the likes of Mudhoney and Nirvana—but the Afghan Whigs made it all more sensible in time with stylistic swerves that angled rock toward rapturous soul and R&B. After a split in 2001, the band is back together and on tour behind "Do to the Beast," an album as wrenching and redemptive as any from its heyday.

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Dieter Meier
EPA

Dieter Meier

(le) Poisson Rouge

158 Bleecker St.

(212) 505-3474

Sunday

Dieter Meier was the leader of the '80s new-wave band Yello, which made some of the most playful and grand pop music of the era, and landed a hit by way of prime placement in the movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (the song "Oh Yeah," with its strange chk-chka-chka refrain). Since then, Mr. Meier, 69 years old, has cultivated himself as a bon vivant whose art also includes experimental film, organic farming, wine production and time spent playing professional poker. His latest foray goes back to music in the form of "Out of Chaos," a new album of theatrical torch songs—and his first solo effort—that he will perform here with a band of Swiss jazz musicians as part of the festival "Zurich Meets New York: A Festival of Swiss Ingenuity."

Swans

Bowery Ballroom

6 Delancey St.

(212) 533-2111

Sunday

Swans started out in the same downtown New York milieu as breakout bands like Sonic Youth, but their devotion to nihilistic anxiety and searing seriousness made them monastic by comparison—until a surprise resurrection in 2010 recast Swans as heroes to all who like their rock music to search and seethe. The group's new double-album "To Be Kind" (more than two hours long) plays like a menacing movie about an apocalyptic blues band wandering across a desert, and Swans mastermind Michael Gira holds court with unrelenting gravitas. The whole enterprise is even more commanding on stage, which has made chances to see Swans live a genuine event indeed. The band also plays Monday at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

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Michael Gira of Swans, which has two shows this week.
Sebastian Sighell

Mastodon

Terminal 5

610 W. 56th St., (212) 582-6600

Thursday

Mastodon is a metal band from Atlanta that doesn't shy away from weighty subjects, like "Moby-Dick" (inspiration for the album "Leviathan") and the physics of wormholes and other theoretical findings of Stephen Hawking (the gist behind the concept album "Crack the Skye"). But however cerebral in origin, Mastodon songs make plenty of space for pent-up anger and rage, plus all the transformative promise that thorough headbanging holds. The group broke out of insider metal circles with its 2011 album "The Hunter," and its "Once More 'Round the Sun," due out in June, will be the eagerly awaited centerpiece here.

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Brent Hinds of Mastadon, which has a new album, 'Once More 'Round the Sun,' scheduled to be released in June.
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